Idling in Indonesia

So on Monday I was faced with the 'Battlestar Galactica' rollercoasters at Universal Studios. Would I or wouldn't I? I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear that I went on all the rides and only felt slightly ill afterwards! I think that part of me even enjoyed the big rides (even if the photos seemed to show the face of a man going through indescribable turmoil) but they were definitely outshone by the likes of Shrek 4D, the Jurassic Park ride (a bit like Rumba Rapids at Thorpe Park but SO much better) and 'The Daddyos' a singing, dancing group of lads who sang such classics as 'Good Vibrations' and 'In the Jungle'. Obviously I loved it.

Tuesday we went to the zoo . I was properly excited about this one even though I'd been before. We woke up slightly later then planned but better than the day before (we had overslept for 3 hours prior to Universal) and got a taxi up to the zoo, and grabbed a quick KFC before entering. (JC elbowed his tray and sent the contents flying behind him. Made quite a mess, much to the cleaner's dismay. I simply could not hold in the laughter.) The animals were all sooo cool. Got some great photos! Rob particularly enjoyed feeding a giraffe! Not sure what my favourite animal was but the white tigers are always worth seeing...

Yesterday we were due another early start so that we could head to an Indonesian island. The cost of the day would be close to 100 Singapore dollars (very bad news for my budget!) and we had pretty much no idea what was on the island... But the others were very keen to be able to say they had been to Indonesia! When we were there it was actually a really interesting place. Singapore is very much Asia for beginners, not that different a culture to the West, but Batam (the island) was different. Loads of motorbikes, everyone beeping and waving at us (not sure they saw many Western tourists), taxis trying to pick us up every 30 seconds! We went to a large bridge called Barelang bridge (wish it had have been called Bare Long bridge) and the view from there was pretty awesome. I think the main thing I noticed there was that even though the material standard of living was much lower than Singapore the people seemed livelier and happier! Finished off the day with a trip to the night zoo, probably not as good as the day zoo but still enjoyable!

Today was a very welcome lie in day! Then, after the failure of JC's 'marmite pasta', we were due to head to the rainforest walk. Although just before we were about to leave Rob took an executive decision that 'we' no longer wanted to go and lay down and refused to move! (We still had packing to do as we leave for Kuala Lumpur early tomorrow morning and the rainforest walk would have meant no time for a 'big night out'.) So it looks like a night out is back on. Guess I'll do the rainforest walk next time I'm in Singapore... Probably a good thing we stayed in though as the trains through Vietnam are booked on the days we need them! Problem! I'm sure we'll sort something out... A few days in Malaysia coming up, let's hope there's time for an update while I'm there...

If you have a birthday in early May you might find yourself getting a postcard